Lessons Learnt: Fresh water flooding large cargo ship

by The Editorial Team

May 7, 2015

in Safety

Lessons from UK MAIB’s Marine Accident Reports

The UK MAIB has issued the first issue of Safety Digest for this year including lessons learnt from maritime accidents. One case refers to poor planning and lack procedures which led to approximately 100 cubic metres of fresh water flooding accommodation and machinery compartments on board a large cargo ship.

Due to the scheduled programme at the ships next port, a routine inspection of a fresh water storage tank was conducted on passage. The chief officer was responsible for the management of the fresh water and he delegated the task to the AB waterman. The waterman was told which tank to inspect and that the tank had been emptied. The waterman, who was familiar with the tank inspections on other ships, arranged for another crewman to assist. Neither crewman had inspected the water tanks on board.

The two crewmen went to a compartment in the accommodation block where they thought that the tank lid was located. They then removed the lids securing nuts and one of the crewmen levered it out of position. As he did so, the tank lid was projected across thecompartment by the force of water coming from the tank below, narrowly missing one of the crew members as it did so. Wrong tank!

RelatedNews

Lessons learned: Do not ever rush the job

Lessons learned: Ensure there are lifejackets for all on board

Water quickly flooded into the compartment and one of the crewmen quickly escaped through the open door. However, the door was soon forced shut by the flood water, trapping the second crewman inside. As the water depth increased to about 2m, he was forced to climb onto a bench sink. The trapped crewman was subsequently rescued by the ships emergency response team.

The water spread rapidly into all compartments on two decks, including the high voltage converter space. Quick action by the ships crew to isolate the power supplies to the high voltage equipment prevented serious damage to the propulsion system. Nonetheless, the ship drifted not under command for several hours until temporary repairs were completed.

Lessons Learnt

Any tank, regardless of its contents, is a dangerous enclosed space. The safety of crew engaged in tank work, including fresh water tank inspections, relies on a proper risk assessment being undertaken and access controlled by a permit to work system. Anything less has the potential to be very costly.

Assuming that a crewman is familiar with a task due to his or her routine duties during their previous contracts on other vessels, is a frequently repeated mistake. Remember that all ships vary and peopleare different. It pays to double check that any person assigned to do a safetycritical job has been properly briefed, fully understands how to complete the job in a safe manner and is supervised appropriately.

The clear, consistent and unambiguous marking of all tank lids, sounding tubes, vent pipes etc is such a simple and inexpensive way of identifying what a tank is and what it contains. It is such a shame that it is not always done.

Source:UK MAIB